Mumbai: 55-Year-Old Man Dies After Falling Into Open Manhole In Sakinaka; Four BMC Officials Suspended

Mumbai: A 55-year-old man died after falling into an open manhole in Sakinaka on Thursday, recording the third monsoon death on the third consecutive day. The incident has badly exposed the BMC's monsoon preparedness. "For years, we have been used to seeing flooded roads, traffic jams and disrupted train services in Mumbai during the monsoon, but now we hear of deaths due to tree falls and open manholes. The BMC's monsoon preparedness is deteriorating year by year," said Manda Shete, a resident of Chembur.

Within hours of the mishap on Thursday, four officers, including Assistant Municipal Commissioner of the civic L Ward, Dhanaji Hirle, were suspended. Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide has appointed a committee headed by the Additional Municipal Commissioner (Western Suburbs) to investigate the incident, which has been directed to submit its report within seven days.

The BMC has announced Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the deceased's family.

The Sakinaka Police registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) and are investigating the matter further. No FIR has been registered so far.

The incident took place around 12.26 pm on Khairani Road near Sanman Hotel, when the manhole was opened by a BMC-appointed contractor to install a safety net, a mandatory monsoon safety measure. However, no barricading was placed around the manhole, and the deceased, Aslam Shaikh, who was walking on the road while talking on his mobile phone, did not realise the open manhole and fell into it.

Soon, the Mumbai Fire Brigade reached the spot, and firemen removed the victim by ventilating the sewer line using an exhaust blower and descending into the sewer line with the help of a rescue van, tripod and rope ladder. He was taken to Rajawadi Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival, said the BMC disaster management report issued at 2.48 pm.

Mumbai has a total of 1,03,926 manholes, of which 96,383 have been fitted with protective safety grilles. More than 1,800 manholes were permanently sealed due to road development works, while safety grilles had to be temporarily removed from some locations because of ongoing construction. The BMC is now reinstalling grilles on around 4,446 manholes, with the work being carried out in phases.

As per BMC information, on Thursday, at around 02:02 PM, when the employees of a private building at Relief Road, near Raheja College, Santacruz (W) went to inspect a fallen tree in the premises of the building, the tree fell on them. Eight people were injured in the incident were admitted to Nanavati Hospital for treatment. All injured are men between the age of 26 and 67. All are in stable condition.

On July 2, from 8 am to 6 pm, 91 complaints of tree falls were received across the city, and nine short circuit incidents were reported. Four complaints of wall/house collapse were recorded. There were no casualties in the mishaps.

Questions are being raised as to why the safety net was being installed during the monsoon, when it is a mandatory pre-monsoon activity. In a May 16 review meeting by Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide, directions were given to all seven Zonal Deputy Municipal Commissioners and 26 Assistant Municipal Commissioners to install manhole safety nets on a priority basis.

"The incident has exposed the BMC's monsoon preparedness and fake promises. Khairani Road is the main connector to Saki Vihar and Chandivali and is a traditional flooding spot. The footpath is encroached upon by shops and the roads by illegal car parking, forcing people to walk in the middle of the road. We fail to understand why the safety net on the manhole was being installed during the peak monsoon, when it is a priority pre-monsoon work. It shows the BMC's seriousness towards the safety of citizens," said Mandeep Singh Makkar, President of the Chandivali Residents Association.

The incident took place a week after a BMC employee fell into an open manhole during Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde's visit. However, he was rescued by the security staff within a minute. The mishap has also reminded people of the unfortunate incident during the August 2017 floods, when Dr Deepak Amarapur was killed after falling into an open manhole.

Meanwhile, heavy rainfall continued to batter Mumbai and its neighbouring districts on Wednesday night and continued till Thursday afternoon. Citizens woke up to the monsoon fury, with low-lying areas waterlogged, traffic congestion and disrupted local train services.

On Thursday, the Central Railway services were running behind schedule, with average delays of around 15 minutes, while Western Railway commuters faced longer delays of over 30 minutes. A total of 46 trains were cancelled on the Western Railway by 7 pm. The disruption was triggered by a point failure at Marine Lines station between 11:30 am and 12 noon. Although the fault was rectified within about 30 minutes, train services continued to run behind schedule for the rest of the day, impacting commuters.

The weather stations that recorded the highest rainfall in 24 hours (Wednesday 7 pm to Thursday 7 pm) included Mandavi Fire Station (180 mm), G-South Ward Office, Worli (177 mm), BMC Head Office, Fort (172 mm), Nadkarni Park, Wadala (164 mm), Chincholi Fire Station (154 mm), Andheri Fire Station (148 mm), Mulund Fire Station (140 mm), and Paspoli, Powai (136 mm), among others.

The intense rain spells are expected to continue in Mumbai and its metropolitan region for at least the next four days. The weather department has issued an Orange Alert for Mumbai till July 5, while a Red Alert has been issued for Thane district for July 4 and for Raigad on July 3 and 4.

Meanwhile, in Thane, incessant rainfall triggered severe waterlogging on the vital Thane-Ghodbunder Highway, leading to massive traffic congestion. Rainwater rushing down from the hills of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park accumulated heavily on the highway, forcing authorities to shut down the lane leading from Thane towards the Fountain Hotel. Commuters—including office-goers, public transit buses, auto-rickshaws and private vehicles—found themselves trapped in kilometres-long queues.

In response to the escalating crisis, the Thane Traffic Police deployed extra personnel to the affected bottlenecks to manage the gridlock. Senior Police Inspector Praful Wagh of the Kashimira Traffic Branch confirmed that while additional manpower is actively working to clear the congestion, normalcy has only been partially restored.

With inputs by Abhishek Pathak, Fariyal Sayyed

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